How to Realize Sunyata

In the process of Buddhist practice, through prolonged and extensive observation, as the wisdom of understanding human affairs, phenomena, and principles deepens, one's thoughts and perceptions will change. When perceptions change, attitudes change; when attitudes change, behavior changes; when behavior changes, karma changes; when karma changes, retribution changes; and when retribution changes, wisdom leads to liberation. Liberation is the thorough and effective realization of the emptiness and illusoriness of all phenomena, no longer clinging to or grasping at any phenomena. When the world is seen as empty and tranquil, the mind becomes peaceful. Upon realizing emptiness, one perceives everything in the world as inconsequential, adopting a resigned attitude toward worldly affairs, where gain or loss holds no importance. What truly matters is that the mind is empty, and body, speech, and mind are transformed, no longer creating karmic afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, resulting in wholesome retribution. If one still fails to realize emptiness, the sense of self persists; and where there is self, there are afflictions and karmic afflictions.

Emptiness is understood progressively from three perspectives. The deepest understanding arises from the perspective of Tathagatagarbha, but without realizing Tathagatagarbha, one cannot truly comprehend emptiness. A relatively profound understanding comes from the perspective of the Four Noble Truths. The most superficial understanding of emptiness stems from the perspective of worldly phenomena, which is an accumulation of experience and worldly wisdom—certainly far from ultimate, yet still superior to the understanding of the ignorant. The most thorough and ultimate understanding arises from recognizing all phenomena through the functional roles of the seven fundamental seeds within Tathagatagarbha. This leads to an emptiness that reaches the absolute extreme, where even emptiness itself is empty, and the emptiness of emptiness is also empty, transcending all mind and objects, rendering all phenomena and objects superfluous. At this stage, there is nothing left to say, for whatever is spoken is not it—beyond conceptualization and utterly ineffable.